The men’s squash team took on George Washington University, Hamilton and Amherst in the Team Nationals-Summers Cup at Harvard last weekend. After losing a tough match against George Washington University on Friday, Bowdoin bounced back to take down Hamilton and Amherst.
The team came into the tournament seeded at No. 21 and left in the same position at the end of the weekend.
“That was fine, but we were hoping to do a little bit better” said captain Andrew Ward ’15.
The Polar Bears had a tough draw in the first round, going up against No. 20 George Washington.
“George Washington has a really strong top of the ladder [players one through five],” said captain Stephan Danyluk ’14, who was named First Team All-NESCAC yesterday.
The Colonials’ top-heavy nature showed against Bowdoin, as their entire top ladder swept the Polar Bears’.
“We weren’t able to find that extra edge,” said Danyluk. “At the end there just wasn’t enough mental focus and I think the pressure of the moment kind of got to some people at the top.”
However, Bowdoin’s bottom ladder (players six through nine) provided a silver lining for the Bears, as Max Bearse ’15, Ben Bristol ’17, Cyrus Nassikas ’17 and Will Winmill ’14 all dominated their matches, leaving Bowdoin with a 5-4 loss.
“They’re one of our big rivals, so it’s tough to lose to them,” said Ward.
The Polar Bears played Hamilton in the consolation bracket the next day.
After dismantling Hamilton 8-1 earlier in the season, the men came in confident they could win the match.
“We knew we would have to mess up pretty bad against Hamilton [to lose],” said Ward. “But we still had to kind of overcome the loss from the day before.”
Quickly shaking off the loss to the Colonials, the team dominated Hamilton, winning 7-2.
“Hamilton, to their credit, came out and played very well,” said Danyluk. “But we were able to have enough guys play well, especially at the beginning of the match, to get that win.”
On Sunday, the Polar Bears took on NESCAC rival Amherst in a tightly-contested match to determine the teams’ final national standings.
Bowdoin, powered by clutch performances from Danyluk, Ward and Winmill, pulled out a 5-4 win.
“All of our matches since freshman year have been really close with them” said Danyluk. “But Amherst and us just line up very similarly, so it was incredibly close.”
“Will Winmill probably played his best match of his Bowdoin career, and [Danyluk] and I had both lost to these guys about a week before, so that was a huge win,” added Ward. “It was also probably the biggest win of Stephan’s life.”
With the win, Bowdoin capped off the season winning six of its last nine matches, finishing with an 11-11 record and a No. 21 national ranking.